


Miserere

by Vault_Emblem



Series: VerV Week [1]
Category: Devil May Cry
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood Drinking, First Meetings, Injury, Latin, M/M, Mercy - Freeform, Pre-Relationship, V is his own character, Vampire Hunter Vergil, Vampire V, VerV Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-01
Updated: 2019-09-01
Packaged: 2020-10-04 19:07:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,375
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20476055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vault_Emblem/pseuds/Vault_Emblem
Summary: Vergil's town seems to be plagued by a new vampire.Being the resident hunter, Vergil indagates.(Written for VerVweek | Prompts: AU, Wounds, Supernatural/Paranormal)





	Miserere

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, I had to take my old latin dictionary to write a fucking spell, that's how much I love this couple.  
I could've made Vergil the vampire and V the human hunter, but tbh I wanted to do something different; also, it's a cool dynamic: Vergil who's a human but acts more like a monster, and V who technically is a monster, but acts more human than him.
> 
> You can also find me on tumblr [@bi-naesala](https://bi-naesala.tumblr.com) and on twitter [@vault_emblem](https://twitter.com/vault_emblem)

Vergil scouts the area around. Complete silence surrounds him, but instead of making him feel more relaxed, it only manages to make him feel even more tense than before.

He recognizes this kind of silence: it always surrounds unnatural places, or better, unnatural things, monsters, his preys.

He’s heard rumors about this particular part of town. It’s a desert place, abandoned because its bad hygienic conditions were only spreading the plague further; only bandits live here now, along with whoever wasn’t able to find a better location.

He remembers that as a kid, he got dragged here by Dante often, as it was the favorite spot of those children who felt the need to prove something to the world – as if that would’ve helped. Apparently things haven’t changed even with the next generation, as children were the ones to give the alarm: there is something bad living here, something not human.

There have been records of people coming back to the central square sick and pale, but it’s not the plague, only a sickness deriving from a lack of blood, and there’s only one kind of creature that could be able to cause such a phenomenon.

And to think that a vampire has decided to put down roots in _his_ hometown… Sickening.

This is the reason why he’s here: he’ll put an end to this monster’s life – _un_life would be more correct.

His grip on Yamato – his father’s legendary sword before the vampires brought him and mother to the grave – becomes tighter; if anything moves, he’ll be ready to draw it immediately, and there’s no way the vampire will be able to avoid him.

He will kill the beast before they can even notice him, and he will free the town from this obscure presence.

He doesn’t like to act as the saviour of the city, but Dante is far, far away – caught up in his own vampire hunting business – so someone has to do it.

The first things he needs to do is to find a coffin. Every vampire has one; one could even say that their hearts – or what remains of it – resides in it: until the coffin is still in one piece, even if he kills the vampire they would just come back in a couple of days if Vergil’s lucky, a couple of minutes if he isn’t. If he destroys the coffin at least he’ll have one less thing to worry about.

There can always be the chance that the vampire hasn’t dragged their coffin all their way here and that… could cause some problems.

Oh well, if he doesn’t find anything, he’ll make sure to make the vampire talk, and this is why he waited for the night to come – and also because he likes the challenge: what meaning would it have if he defeated the vampire while they were asleep?

The barracks are still as he remembers them, old and ruined. It’s a mystery for him how anyone would rather live in here than in any other place, but it isn’t his place to judge.

At least by deciding to haunt this place, the vampire has managed to clear it up, as anyone in their right mind would want to live in such proximity with a monster. It won’t last long, but Vergil would rather kill the creature instead of leaving it to pester this place.

He begins to inspect inside the barracks, one hand on the Yamato and the other that keeps a lantern. Vergil’s eyesight is sharper than any common human – thanks to his training – but it’s still not enough to see in the dark as if there was light.

He finds nothing inside, which means that he’ll have to look for the coffin later, damn it.

He’ll have to brush off some of the old spells father had insisted for him and Dante to learn; he doesn’t like to resort to magic in any situation, but it is necessary.

It’s then that he feels movement right outside his field of vision. Only one kind of being can move this fast, but Vergil is no slouch himself and he’s able to follow them with, if not the same speed, enough to catch the figure that was trying to sneak up on him.

He doesn’t even care about dropping the lantern on the ground because he needs both hands to unsheathe the Yamato, and with a quick movement he stabs the being, pinning it to one of the barracks’ wall. A moan of pain abandons the vampire’s lips, and now Vergil can observe him better.

Only one eye peeks from the dark bangs, and it’s of a pure red. This man’s – man, he is no man – skin is white like snow but there’s something on his neck that Vergil can’t quite understand; what are those black marks?

He brushes that thought aside by sinking Yamato even deeper in. He’s not here to observe vampires, but to kill them.

\- _Tell me where your coffin is, and I will give you a painless death_ -.

… But not before getting to know this important detail.

The vampire doesn’t respond.

There’s a vacuity in his eyes that Vergil recognizes: _he’s hungry_; he probably didn’t even listen to him.

Vergil grits his teeth in frustration – he hates having to repeat himself – and he twists the Yamato further into the wound, and the vampire whines, but still doesn’t respond.

It’s then that Vergil notices that there’s something red across the creature’s abdomen, a bit on the left from where he stabbed him, and… that’s another wound. Vergil’s cut was clean, he wouldn’t have hit him there, so that means that he must’ve gotten wounded before their encounter; however the wound is still open, something unusual for vampires who heal in matters of seconds.

This means only one thing: a fellow vampire must’ve hurt him.

Does this mean that... all the blood he took from people… Yes, he must’ve been using it to heal.

Wouldn’t he be healed by now however? Well, it depends on how recent the wound is, how big it originally was and… how much blood he drinks.

Thinking about it, he never sucked anyone dry. They all end up sick, but they never die. Why is that, especially considering that he’d heal quicker if he got more blood?

_What is this creature?_

… Why does he care so much?

This is just a dirty monster and he should get rid of him immediately. But first…

It was supposed to be just a simple tactical move; the other wound must hurt more, and all Vergil wanted to do is to use that to his advantage, stabbing the Yamato through it, but he made a mistake: he underestimated what was in front of him.

As soon as he pulls Yamato out of the wound in fact, the vampire lounges at him with such strength and speed that manage to catch Vergil completely off guard.

His back hits the ground, and yet the impact is not as strong as one would’ve imagined. It’s then that he realizes that the creature was holding him – to lessen the fall, but right now he has more urgent things to think about.

The vampire is close, so close, and now that he’s caught in his grasp, it’s hard for Vergil to break free despite how hard he’s trying. He even let Yamato fall out of reach – such a clumsy mistake.

\- _I’m sorry_ -.

What is he…

And then the fangs sink in.

When Vergil opens his eyes again, it’s still night.

He rolls on his side and his first instinct is to look for Yamato. Thankfully it has been laid beside him.

How… curious.

He doesn’t feel good – maybe a bit of nausea – but he manages to get up by leaning on the Yamato; still he can’t help but to frown at the mediocre show he’s given to any hypothetical spectator – luckily he’s alone, which is good because _nobody can know about this_.

He touches his neck, fingers that tremble slightly across his skin, and he can feel two small nubs, signs of where the vampire has sank his fangs.

Vergil grits his teeth and the hand around Yamato’s handle tightens.

_How dares he?!_

“Sorry”, the monster had said before feasting upon him and Vergil can’t help but to think with sarcasm that yes, _he must’ve been so sorry_.

The worst thing is that he left him alive, and now Vergil will have to live with the fact that he got tricked by a vampire.

That’s it: he will find him, he will catch him, he will make him pay for this. He swears it.

Even in this disgraceful situation there is hope however, because now that the creature has Vergil’s blood, he can retrace it.

He unsheathes Yamato, running his palm through its blade. He doesn’t even flinch from pain as blood begins to spill from his now wounded hand; he remains as stoic as ever.

He waits until a few droplets have fallen on the ground before pronouncing the words of a spell he never thought he’d ever get to use:

\- _Solvere sanguinem sanguine _-.

It’s an ancient tracking spell, useful if the vampire hasn’t managed to suck their victim dry, like this time.

The blood on the ground trembles at first, then it begins to move, leading Vergil to what will be the spot where he will find – and kill – the beast.

Surprisingly, he doesn’t have to travel far. He’s right outside the town.

Vergil spots him from far away, which gives him an advantage because it doesn’t seem like the vampire has sensed his presence; he seems more focused on limping his way through the woods. Apparently, even Vergil’s blood wasn’t enough to heal him entirely, but then why didn’t he just take his life? He must’ve seen that Vergil’s a danger to him, and yet he still let him live.

Maybe he’s underestimating him.

Vergil bolts in his direction and, once he’s close enough, he tackles the beast; it’s such a crude thing to do, he knows that, but he wants to look at him in the face when he kills him, he wants to see the fear in his eyes. And indeed he finds fear in the way the monster is looking at him and he takes a moment to revel in it.

Their breaths are heavy but they don’t move, they just keep staring at each other. The vampire indeed looks afraid but also… tired, like he’s on the verge of passing out – and Vergil doesn’t think he’s ever saw one of these monsters do that, he doesn’t even know if they’re actually able to do it.

And again, for who knows what reason, Vergil is wondering about this creature’s identity.

He’s never seen anything like this in all the years he’s been hunting monsters.

Just who is this merciful vampire?

Like he already did, he pushes that thought aside, burying it deep in his hatred for vampires, this accursed species that plagues the world.

His hands are firm around the Yamato, ready to stab the monster.

… Except _he can’t_.

Why is honor stopping him now? Vampires have no honor and he should feel no remorse in slaying them.

And yet… he got spared, by the thing he was trying to kill. In all good conscience, he can’t kill him now, and that only makes him angry towards himself.

Who cares about honor? He does, unfortunately.

In the end this vampire hasn’t killed anybody – at least that Vergil knows of.

\- Why do you do this? -.

If he has to kill him, at least he wants to understand first.

The vampire seems to have caught his words this time, but he still looks perplexed.

\- … What? -.

His voice sounds so weak, but Vergil still grabs him by the shoulders and slams him on the ground.

\- Why didn’t you kill me? -.

\- I… can’t -.

Vergil scoffs at those words.

\- Ah! As if I’m going to believe that, _vampire_ -.

His tone is harsh, and the creature winces at those words – or maybe it’s because his shoulders’ are beginning to hurt. Still, his eyes seem sincere when he speaks again:

\- I’m not… -, then he pauses, - I don’t want to hurt anybody -.

\- You’re a vampire, a monster. You hurt people even just by existing -.

\- I don’t kill them -.

It’s then that it hits Vergil: the reason why this vampire seems so weird to him is that he’s so… human. Yes, he has a monster in front of him, and yet this monster acts as any person in town would.

He doesn’t seem bloodthirsty, and he’s only taking what he needs in order to heal, without endangering his victims.

He doesn’t believe he’s about to do this, but this is what his heart tells him to do, and for once he’s going to listen to it.

\- _Go_ -.

The vampire looks at him with bewildered gaze. Did he really…

Vergil puts some space between them, his gaze that doesn’t leave the creature not even for a second.

\- I said go, leave -.

The creature seems incredulous, but still he begins to crawl behind him.

\- Thank you, thank y… -, he begins to mutter, grateful, but Vergil interrupts him before this entire situation can get to him.

\- Next time I won’t be this generous if I catch you around here -.

The vampire shakes his head.

\- I won’t stay, I promise -.

\- _You better_ -.

It’s with a last glance that the vampire scrambles to his feet and begins to limp away, vanishing deep inside the forest, followed by Vergil’s vigilant gaze – at least until he can see him.

Once the creature is out of sight Vergil sighs, massaging the bridge of his nose, knowing already that is going to cause him massive headaches for later.

He feels bile in his stomach at the sole thought of having to lie to the villagers, to tell them that the world is free of yet another vampire. At his point he can only hope that he’s going to keep his promise – Vergil’s entire reputation is at stake here – and, if he has to feed, that he at least does it in territory that doesn’t concern him.

Of one thing he’s sure however: in the long run, he’s going to regret this.


End file.
